Faction Collective 10th Birthday interview

Faction skis, one of the top indie ski brands, have forged a big name for themselves in Europe, North America and Australia. Faction turn 10 this year, and are on a roll with a great range of skis and the amazing Candide Thovex as lead front man. We know you love us sharing his clips, and not surprisingly his new signature range headlines Faction’s 2016-17 offerings.
The Faction Collective brand launched 10 years ago out of Verbier, Switzerland, by former Falls Creek ski bum, part time muso and graphic designer Tony McWilliam, is now firmly established in Europe and North America, and right back on the radar downunder with new Australian distributors this year.
Some of SnowAction’s top ski models are long time Faction riders, so we’ve always had an insider’s appreciation of the quality of the skis.

We caught up with Tony McWilliam in Denver for a birthday update interview.

10 years of Faction, congratulations, I bet you didn’t think it was going to be as big as it is now when you started it.
No definitely not, I thought I might make 5 pairs of skis in the garage, well, this little factory I found in Evian in France. Then I met my business partner Alex in 2005-06 and we had the potential to make it into something bigger. And every year we keep going: maybe we’ll do clothing, maybe we’ll licence Roxy and see what happens, maybe something else, so we keep growing.And the Candide Thovex connection has kicked it along?
Yes, he’s been phenomenal. I spend a lot of time with him over the year, he’s involved with everything from the shapes to the construction to the graphics. He’s very particular about what he likes.With the ski line, which we have been sampling since 2008, you seem to keep the same roots, updating, but not trashing what works, so there’s consistency there.
I thought we’d only really need about 5 different types of skis early on. Then we keep refining the product, but really we’re still focused on the freestyle/freeride side of things, that’s our niche. We’re still based in Verbier, that’s the terrain that’s useful there. We’re not ever going to make piste skis or anything like that.